Scalia, Antonin (1936- )

US Supreme Court associate justice from 1986. A conservative, nominated by President Ronald Reagan, he favours economic deregulation and judicial restraint. He concurred with the majority in Texas v. Johnson (1989), which ruled constitutional the burning of the US flag in protest. He dissented in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987), when the court ruled that states may not mandate the teaching of the theory of creationism to counteract the teaching of the theory of evolution.

Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Scalia graduated from Georgetown University and Harvard University Law School. After private practice in Cleveland, Ohio 1961-67 and teaching law at the University of Chicago 1967-71, he worked as a lawyer in the executive branch of the federal government, ultimately becoming assistant attorney general in 1974.